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oct15-30-reference

HBR STAFF

A colleague opens up to you and says that he'south interviewing for a new job. He asks you to exist his reference. Should yous say yes? And if y'all do, what can you say to a potential new employer to best convey the applicant's skills and expertise?

What the Experts Say
Providing a reference for a worthy employee is not simply kind, it'south a smart career move. It'south "good professional karma to pay it forward," says Jodi Glickman, the speaker, writer, and founder of the communication consulting business firm, Keen on the Job. "Most people who are successful in their careers had assist forth the mode," she says. "And they're happy to assistance someone else coming up." Priscilla Claman, the president of Career Strategies, a Boston-based consulting firm and a correspondent to the HBR Guide to Getting the Correct Job , agrees: "If yous've got someone who's worked difficult for you lot, and you can't promote him or he's moving to Minneapolis, you should try to support him notwithstanding y'all can." Here'due south how to handle a reference asking—and what to actually say (or write) to a recruiter.

Decide whether you want to do information technology
The first step, of course, is determining whether y'all'll requite the reference. If the person was a star performer and dedicated colleague, then the respond may be obvious. Merely if his track record was spotty or worse, be conscientious. "You're putting your reputation on the line," Glickman says. "If you refer someone, and he doesn't perform, you look bad." Yous should also consider whether your visitor allows you to be a reference. Claman says that many companies forbid employees from giving job references to current or former colleagues, stipulating that reference checks become through HR. While this dominion is peradventure the "nearly violated policy in the panoply of Hr policies," it's smart to know what you are allowed and not allowed to do.

Be honest
Whatever you decide, be true with your colleague about what you're willing to do and say. If you feel you really can't serve as a reference, say then, says Glickman. She recommends declining this way. "Say, 'I am not going to be able to give yous a strong enough recommendation. You need someone who can really sing your praises.'" If your appraisal of the candidate's abilities is mixed, Claman advises having a "conversation [with the applicant] almost what exactly y'all might say" to a reference checker. Be candid, just diplomatic near the particulars. "Say, 'I could requite you a reference near how well you lot deal with customers, but I can't requite you a reference that includes your ability to stick to a budget."

Prepare
When you lot practice concur to give a reference, enquire the candidate for assistance. "If you don't have enough information to speak off-the-cuff, or you lot worked with the person a long time ago, request an up-to-date résumé and then take her refresh your retention on her summit accomplishments at your organization," says Glickman. Savvy, smart candidates provide iii references—often a mixture of one-time and current bosses, coworkers, and subordinates—that can speak to their different strengths. So ask the candidate what she'd like you lot to highlight, says Claman. Is it her rapport with customers? Her project direction skills? Her technical chops? Also request information near the function she'southward beingness considered for and why she wants the job. "Ask her, 'Why is this the right next chore for you?'"

If you've been asked for a written recommendation, which is still a prominent feature in some professions, such equally teaching, as well as in graduate school applications, suggest that your colleague prepare a draft alphabetic character with all of the relevant data that you lot can and then "edit as you see fit," says Claman.

Employ specific examples
Whether it'southward a written recommendation or a phone conversation, hiring managers are often interested in 2 central aspects of a candidate's on-the-chore operation. The first is behavioral, says Glickman. They want to know how the candidate relates to other colleagues, which is basically "a character reference." The second aspect concerns his technical skills and expertise. "They desire to know how he drove revenue by Ten%, or improved sales by 10 margin," she says. In both cases, "exist as specific every bit you lot tin can about the contributions" the candidate made to your arrangement, says Claman.

If the candidate is being considered for a job in which he doesn't have straight experience, information technology tin be tricky to come up with the right anecdotes. Describe the time when he picked up a new professional responsibility and what he accomplished; talk about how he spearheaded a cantankerous-functional project and the result he produced. The goal is for the hiring managing director to infer competence. "Talk about specific and special circumstances—don't be generic," Claman says.

Be positive
"The level of enthusiasm you lot bring to the conversation and the superlatives you lot utilize to describe the candidate" should convey your stance of the bidder's abilities, says Glickman. "The highest praise you lot can give [in a reference check] is proverb something similar, 'I would rent this person in a heartbeat. This is a person I desire on my squad.'" Sometimes reference checkers inquire nearly a candidate's weaknesses or press you to rank the candidate based on other employees. But you shouldn't become there, says Claman. "Never requite a negative reference—information technology's far too fraught." Trying to be funny or tongue-and-cheek is as well ill advised. "Be careful almost making a joke," says Claman. "Things can so easily get blown out of proportion. Stick to the facts."

Follow up
Many applicants are only vaguely aware of when and if their references are being checked and then it's a thoughtful gesture to "let the candidate know you lot spoke to the hiring manager," says Claman. Jobseekers are often hungry for information near their fate in the selection procedure and the very fact that you got a telephone call "gives them a amend sense of what'southward going on and lets them know they're a more serious candidate." Y'all needn't provide a "blow-by-blow" of what was discussed, but if you are so inclined, candidates oft appreciate it. "The candidate is responsible for letting you know if he got the job," adds Glickman. But it doesn't hurt to remind him of this. "Say, 'Keep me posted.' And then promise he does."

Principles to Remember

Do

  • Be honest about what you are and are not willing to say to the recruiter
  • Ask the candidate to refresh your memory about his top accomplishments and contributions if yous haven't worked together in awhile
  • Convey enthusiasm about your colleague and her power to do the job well

Don't

  • Agree to provide a reference for someone you don't believe in—remember: your reputation is on the line
  • Be vague—offer specific examples of the candidate'due south abilities and strengths
  • Feel like you accept to provide the candidate with a blow-past-blow business relationship of what yous discussed with the recruiter, but following up is a kind gesture

Case Study #ane: Handle potential trouble spots in a fragile simply honest fashion
As the president and CEO of Deaf Interpreter Services, which provides professional, certified sign language and oral interpreters for the deaf community, Marilyn Weber often writes recommendations for employees who are applying for training programs and fellowships.

A few years ago, Sarah*—i of her tiptop workers who was moving out of state for personal reasons—asked Marilyn for a reference letter for a task as a hospital staff interpreter. Marilyn was happy to do this favor for Sarah. After all, Sarah had top-notch skills. She was a squad player. And she had a lot of experience. But at that place was one problem: Marilyn knew that Sarah couldn't stand up the sight of claret. (During the DIS interview procedure, Marilyn asks candidates if there any situations they don't desire to be put into. That way, she knows not to schedule them for any of those jobs.)

"I asked Sarah, 'Is this the right fit for you?' Not every state of affairs at a hospital involves blood, just as a staff interpreter, I had to imagine that sometimes she was going to exist put in the ER," she says. "Sarah told me she had idea long and hard nearly it and unsaid that information technology wouldn't exist a problem." Marilyn took her at her word.

And then Marilyn spent the balance of the conversation probing Sarah about what she wanted her to highlight in the letter. "I said, 'what would the [hiring manager] like to know about you and your success here at DIS?'" Sarah asked Marilyn to emphasize her expertise in the medical field, and Marilyn was happy to oblige. "Sarah was one of the most requested interpreters by doctors and patients."

Sarah also provided a draft letter for Marilyn to use as a starting point. In the last letter, Marilyn was truthful and positive. She emphasized Sarah's "competence and skill" besides as her background in the medical arena. "Just I did also say that we did not place her in every situation that arose at a hospital," she says. "We would use her if a patient was having [chest] pains, but not in situations like a motorcar accident."

"Sarah was honest and upfront with us, and I hoped she was with them, likewise." Merely unfortunately Marilyn will never know. "I never heard from her once again," she says.

Case Study #2: Collaborate with the candidate
For 8 years, Shannon Barnes worked as a VP in HR at Coldwater Creek, the women's wearable company. She left the company in 2014 for a job at Insights, a professional person training and development company. Shortly later on she left, Coldwater Creek went into defalcation.

"At that signal, a lot of my erstwhile colleagues came to me to enquire for recommendations," she says. "For each one, I thought really hard about whether I could do it. I said yes when I felt like I could requite an honest and good reference. But when I didn't experience similar I could give a reference that was going to serve that person well – either I didn't think highly of the person'southward functioning, or I didn't work closely plenty with that person—I [declined]. I don't want my credibility and integrity on the line."

One of her erstwhile colleagues, Martha,* a "wonderful woman who was a inferior-level Hour generalist," told Shannon that she was in the advanced interview stage for an Hour job at a local infirmary. She asked Shannon to be a reference. "Martha was non my direct report, but she worked on my team and she wanted another reference in addition to her manager," she says. "I respected her work and I respected her, then I said yes."

To prep for the telephone conversation with the hospital's hiring director, the ii talked about what Shannon might say. "Information technology was a collaborative effort. We talked about what she had done at the company, and I told her what I saw as her key strengths. I also told her upwardly forepart well-nigh where she had room to grow. She would be entering a new industry, and there would exist a learning curve."

When the hospital'south recruiter called Shannon to talk about Martha, she was upbeat and positive in describing her job performance. "He talked to me nigh the role and explained that it required recruiting. I told him that Coldwater Creek had a separate office dedicated to that, but that I was confident Martha could acquire that part of the business." The last question he asked was, would you lot hire Martha again? "For me, it was a definitive yeah."

Subsequently the telephone call, Shannon called Martha and gave her an update. "I told her that the hiring manager told me that she was a peak candidate and that I wouldn't be surprised if she concluded up getting an offer." Martha emailed back. She did go an offer but decided to take a different job. Martha and Shannon are however in affect.

* Names have been inverse